Inside the Dangerously Empty Lives of Teenage Girls

Why do teenage girls live such empty lives, is it they feel empty inside which they try to fill with meaningless dribble or that their stress causes them to go down a path of self-destruction. In the may 10th addition of MacLean’s magazine an article featuring Dr. Leonard sax “Inside the dangerously empty lives of teenage girls” goes through many key Idea’s of why teenage girls are so eager to fall down a path of destruction and despair. The three main Idea’s Dr. Sax speaks of are that in today’s world girls have more anxiety and pressure, Girls as well are more prone to self-destruction then that of boys, and the parentally approach of today is allowing girls to fall through the cracks. These three main points seem to lead to why so many girls are headed on such a dangerous down ward spiral.

Today girls seem to be out performing the boys in many ways making more income, having higher grades, being more motivated but it all seems to lead to more anxiety, which is impacting girls in a negative way. Girls now not only have to be pretty, thin, and popular they have to be smart, hard worker and fun. This high pressure world creates an impossible image girls must live up. Many girls seem to be fine on the outside while secretly they are cutting themselves or worse.

While the stress of today’s world gets to the girls why does it not to affect the boys? While girls must strive to be the best and fine something that defines them boys are simple content being who they are. Girls have the urge to be something if it’s best gymnast, smartest student while boys are good with just being a good video gamer or can eat more hotdogs then his friends. Girls are constantly striving to be the best if someone passes them they anxiety builds while if someone gets to level two before the good gamer the boy doesn’t worry. The boy who is captain of the football team or smartest student isn’t usually the ones cutting themselves; while girls in the same boat are more likely to cut themselves do to the high level of stress.

With all this stress where are their parents to help with their children stress and anxiety it seems that parenting today has taken a backseat to computers, cell phones, and friends. Instead of being active in their children’s lives they are simple content letting there daughters spend hours on the computer not knowing what they are up too. Many girls seem quite well on the outside but in the inside they are withering away but parents seem oblivious to this letting their children fall through the cracks.

Dr. Sax’s main ideas of over anxious girls, proneness to self destruction, and lack of parenting have led to a society of empty teenage girls. Though girls may be surpassing boys in many ways they are still on a path leading to a dangerous place. What can be done about? should parents take more intrest in the childrens lives or should there be more time to relax for teenage girls. Sociaty has create an envoirment harmful to the teenage girl so should society itself be changed?